The History Things Podcast

Send us Fan Mail You read that episode title correctly, not only are Pat and Matt taking on the Battle of Gettysburg in honor of its 160th commemoration, but they have brought on Scott Hartwig to be their guide! In the unlikely event that you don't know that name, Scott Hartwig was the long time Chief Historian of Gettysburg National Military Park and a frequent contributor to such programs a...

Send us Fan Mail Holy Cow! The History Things Podcast has made it to 50 episodes! Pat and Matt didn't really know how far they would go with their podcast, but 50 episodes is a good start.  This milestone is thanks to you, our listeners, as well as to our fantastic guests! None of this would have been possible without your support and the guys are so honored that you decided to tune in and jo...

Send us Fan Mail Heading into the summer, Pat and Matt are joined by Melissa Winn, the now former Director of Photography Research for HistoryNet. Melissa provides the guys with details on a man who is often overlooked by history and was overshadowed by his boss during the American Civil War, John A. Rawlins, aide-de-camp of Ulysses S. Grant himself.  Rawlins, a prewar friend of Grant's, was...

Send us Fan Mail Coming Sunday May 7th! Join us as we watch the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in real-time as produced by the YouTube channel Titanic Animators! 

Send us Fan Mail For the second quarter of Season 4 the guys are diving deep with our resident shipwreck enthusiast and producer Parker! You may recall Parker's excellent show on the White Star Line and RMS Titanic in Season 1, well he is back with another tragedy on the high seas, this time, the sinking of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915! The guys will be looking at the history of the ship, it&...

Send us Fan Mail Happy St. Patrick's Day and welcome to The History Things Podcast St. Patrick's Day Special! For this four leaf clover festooned holiday the guys have pulled in one of our very first fans, the host of the wildly successful Addressing Gettysburg Podcast, Matt Callery!  When Pat and Matt were starting out, Addressing Gettysburg had them on to promote the show. They have si...

Send us Fan Mail Sevastopol, THE siege of the Crimean War and the focus of much of the mythology surrounding the conflict. Sevastopol became not only a strategic point important to both sides during the war, but a symbol of the war itself. The Russians looked to capitalize on a successful defense of the port city, while the Allies on forcing it's capitulation and opening said port to their fl...

Send us Fan Mail To begin Season 4 of The History Things Podcast, Matt and Pat have brought on the Minister of the Ministry for History, Darrell Rivers, known to many as the Lord Rivers. Darrell is a historic advisor and life long historical presenter. His specialty is the history of Great Britain, particularly in the 19th century. Due to this the guys brought Darrell on to talk about a war that h...

Send us Fan Mail It's that time of year again, the end of season, so it's time for the Season 3 Year End Review! What a season it has been! The guys have brought you great conversations from both coasts and even from our friends up north! The History Things Podcast  covered a wide range of topics this season from maritime history and shipping disasters, to shots heard round the world, to...

Send us Fan Mail The following is a recording of The History Things Podcast's guest appearance on Historians on Tap when they visited Frederick, MD earlier this fall. The guys had a great time hanging out with the Historians on Tap crew, as well as swapping local history stories in downtown Frederick at Frederick Social. As you might have guessed, because this was originally a live event, the...

Send us Fan Mail Friend of the show and Editor in Chief of the Civil War Times, as well as Historynet.com, Dana Shoaf, is back in the studios to drop another Civil War story on Pat and Matt. Where last time we discussed Brigadier General Erastus Tyler and his career both during and after the war. This time the guys are getting down to the men in the ranks. The same day as our National Tragedy unfo...

Send us Fan Mail It's Halloween! This year Matt & Pat are going all in with a special Halloween Episode of The History Things Podcast! To aid them in their efforts the guys have brought on two special guests. The first, Avery Lentz, the primary host of the Battles and Banter Podcast, while the second is The History Things Podcast's own behind the scenes man, Producer Parker! The gang...

Send us Fan Mail For Quarter 4, Pat and Matt sit down with the editor of HistoryNet, Dana Shoaf. If you don't know his name you definitely know his work, as Dana is the editor of Civil War Times Illustrated, America's Civil War and all the other great history magazines that are under the HistoryNet umbrella. It's a ton of work, so we thought we would get Dana in to relax and talk ab...

Send us Fan Mail For this Bonus Episode we take to the sky with Co-Host Matt Borders as we look at the often romantized aspect of the the First World War, the Air War! We've trudeged through the mud and the blood of the trenches in both Season 2 and 3, but now we will look at some of the most iconic and unique flying machines ever to grace the sky. Prior to soaring though, we had to climb. As...

Send us Fan Mail In July we spoke to Anthony Trusso about First Manassas, or First Bull Run and the first major battle of the Civil War in the Eastern Theater. Well, we have brought Anthony back to talk about 2nd Manassas, fought 160 years ago this weekend! Unlike the 1st Battle of Bull Run, the second battle on the plains of Manassas was a multi day affair, with much larger armies and terrible ca...

Send us Fan Mail On July 1 Pat and Matt were joined by guest Rob Enfield, the brains and face behind the brilliant YouTube channel, British Muzzleloaders. Rob gave us a great run down of the lead up to the Battle of the Somme and the bloodliest day in the history of the British Empire, July 1, 1916. Now Rob is back to expound on the Somme Campaign! The rest of the story and the months long endeavo...

Send us Fan Mail Pat & Matt are back in the studio, this time with their friend and fellow ranger, Anthony Trusso. Anthony gives the guys a run down on the first large scale land battle of the American Civil War, First Bull Run. Also known as First Manassas, the Battle of Bull Run is infamous for how it ended and what was happening on the side lines. Looking beyond those tropes though, how wel...

Send us Fan Mail We kick off the second half of our third season with another trip to the Western Front of the First World War! Rob from the YouTube channel British Muzzleloaders joins us for an overall view and story on how one of the most violent battles and subsequent campaigns of the Great War came to be and what were the ramifications of it as the war progressed on for another 2+ years! Rob i...

Send us Fan Mail Can you believe we are half way through Season 3 already? On this mid year review Pat & Matt are looking back at the opening episodes of Season 3 and updating you as to what's been going on in their live outside the studio. It's been a busy year already, with be things happening for both the guys! Also, you get a hint at the rest of this very busy season, where we ar...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to another BONUS edition of The History Things Podcast! In this episode we are joined by special guest Patrick Callaway - PHD candidate and lecturer from the University of Maine, to talk about the relatively unknown Penobscot Expedtion of 1779. Patrick creates a compelling atmosphere and fills it with incredible details of a Continental military campaign of the Americ...

Send us Fan Mail For our follow-up Quarter 2, Pat and Matt are joined once again by the Curator of the Concord Museum, David Wood. David took us through the coming of the Revolution at the beginning of the quarter and all the way through the fighting at Lexington & Concord. With the forces of King George III back in Boston, the colonial militias that had rallied against them had the garrison t...

Send us Fan Mail The Shot Heard 'Round the World! It's a phrase we've all heard, but what does it mean and what is it referring to? For this Season 3, Quarter 2 episode Pat and Matt have the pleasure of speaking to David Wood, the curator of the Concord Museum in Concord, Massachusetts about the spark that ignited the American Revolution, the Battle of Lexington and Concord, fought...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the conclusion of our Quarter 1 cycle for season 3! We are excited to once again dive deep into the waters of one of the Atlantic Ocean's most treacherous stretches of coastline known ominously as "The Graveyard of the Atlantic!" We are joined by Mary Ellen Riddle, the Curator of Education at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum on Hatteras Island to expl...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to another BONUS edition of The History Things Podcast! In this episode we change it up a bit by keeping things in house with co-host Pat McGuire taking us through the tragic sinking of the steamship Home of the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in 1837. This was a neat experience to get back to our roots being the storytellers that we are! This episode keepings...

Send us Fan Mail Season 3 is here! In our 2022 kickoff episode, we hang out with the Administrator of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, Josh Nonnemocher! Josh was a fantastic guest who took us through some of the coolest known and unknown stories and histories associated with one of the United State's most favorite vacation destinations, the Outer Banks! S...